For smaller organizations, Android OS 2.2 is supposed to support remote wipe via Exchange, but many users have complained that it does not work. I could not test this because our corporate servers won't let Android devices connect due to lack of EAS policy compliance.

Android does support complex passwords, VPNs, and SSL message encryption.

Android OS 2.2 can back up contact, calendar, and email data wirelessly to Gmail, as can iOS 4 to Apple's MobileMe service. Android can also back up system settings and application data to Google's servers. In addition, iOS can back up all of your device's data and apps to iTunes, which most large businesses would prefer not to have on corporate PCs.

The winner: It's not even close. Of the two, only iOS 4 can meet corporate security and manageability requirements. Small businesses and independent contractors can probably get away with using Android OS 2.2 -- if they keep a tight rein on their servers, passwords, and so on.

The overall winner is ... There's no question which is the better mobile OS: iOS 4 beats Android OS 2.2 in almost every category.

But Android OS 2.2 does offer a strong core platform whose UI may be inferior to iOS 4 but is good enough for most users. Android OS 2.2's other major deficits center around security and manageability and around corporate apps. Should Google get serious about these areas, Android could easily tie with iOS. After all, it was only a year ago that iOS (then called iPhone OS 3.0) started to take corporate needs seriously, and only last month (with iOS 4) that the necessary foundation was in place to do so.

In the United States, the flawed AT&T 3G network continues to give users a reason to want an alternative to iOS, thanks to the carrier's lock on Apple, and that fact just adds fuel to the Android fire. Android's momentum with users and the support from developers and device makers alike give it a real opportunity to catch up to iOS at some point. No other would-be iPhone-killer can make that claim today.